The Defense Department confirmed that TSgt. Joey D. Link, 29, of Portland, Tenn., died of natural causes on Aug. 5 at a military hospital in Germany. Link was assigned to the 39th Airlift Squadron at Dyess AFB, Tex., but he died during a deployment to Southwest Asia.
The U.S. sent Air Force F-16s over central Syria in a show of force following the Dec. 13 killing of two U.S. Army Soldiers and one American civilian interpreter by a gunman linked to the Islamic State group.
